What are the differences/Similarities between Person Centred, Psychodynamic and CBT Therapy?

	Psychodynamic	Person-centred	CBT
What is spoken about in the therapy session?	The unconcious, childhood patterns, and how they are showing up in day to day life for the client.	Whatever the client wants	Thoughts, feelings and behaviour
Skills and tools	Tools that can help to make the unconscious conscious. Such as analysing dreams, hypnosis, word association, Freudian slips.	The core conditions Skills – Active listening, Restating,  Reflecting,  Paraphrasing,  Managing silences and Summarising	Models of change, worksheets, thought logs, thoughts on trial and lots of other tools that a therapist might feel suitable to use!
Aim	Bring the unconscious into conscious	To help the client become more congruent with themselves	Change limiting and irrational beliefs
Strengths	The psychodynamic theory takes both nature and nurture into account	It enables the client to help themselves and create the core conditions for themselves Person centred approach is good for children as they are quicker to free themselves of introjected values and (handed down) self concepts, and becomes appreciative of their individuality. Opinions are what led them there, and would offering another opinion help them? This is a strength of person centred.	Clear action plans that the clients can follow. Clients may be able to apply techniques to other areas of their lives. Often see results in a relatively short time period. Because CBT is highly structured there is scope to complete these in groups as well as one to one and therefore makes it a very cost effective treatment plan for public health bodies to use such as the NHS.
Weaknesses	It is deterministic and suggests that behaviour is not at an individuals disposal of free will. For example the psychosexual stages. There is no definitive evidence of the unconscious mind.	It can take a long time for meaningful change It can be limited but the culture and belief of the counsellor and the client There is no intervention to help if the client is blocked It was created a long time ago, the fundamentals are there, but life has evolved so the beliefs should be. There are no tools to give. When used with children they don’t have the answers in themselves as they are still young and inexperienced Some of the cognitive processes of self actualisation may be hindered by the clients capacity. The client may need more directed help.	It only addresses the behaviour, and lets a lot of unconscious bias go unchallenged. The client needs to be fully committed to the process and believe in it for it to work. It may not be suitable for people with more complex mental health needs